A powerful, darkly comic novel set in the criminal underworld of Manchester from bestselling author Marnie Riches.

The battle is on…

When gang leader Paddy O’Brien is stabbed in his brother’s famous nightclub, Manchester’s criminal underworld is shaken to the core. Tensions are running high, and as the body count begins to grow, the O’Brien family must face a tough decision – sell their side of the city to the infamous Boddlington gang or stick it out and risk losing their king.

But war comes easy to the bad boys, and they won’t go down without a fight. So begins a fierce battle for the South Side, with the leading Manchester gangsters taking the law into their own hands – but only the strongest will survive…

Hello, my friends.

I hope you are having a great time. Today, I have another review for you. I am a huge fan of Marnie Riches and #TheGirlWho Series and was very excited when I found Born Bad on NetGalley. It was published last year but because of my very big TBR pile I finally managed to read it these days.

When I started reading the book, my first thought was, OMG, this isn’t a part of #TheGirlWho Series? I was quiet surprised. It was hard for me to get into the story and the characters at the beginning, but as the story continued, I was hooked. The plot is centered around Manchester gang leader Paddy O’Brien and his family and his partners and enemies. The boss has been stabbed and ends up in hospital and the criminal kingdom is shaken. He wants to rule, his wife wants to rule, the enemies want to rule. Everyone wants the largest piece of the pie.

Paddy is a lousy husband and father, a man who beats his wife, a gang boss who kills people without a blink. After the murder of his brother Jack, who is not an angel, he starts a series of killings in order to find his brother’s murderer. His wife, Sheila, wants the power as a revenge for every slap she takes. She is a beaten wife, but she doesn’t leave, being Paddy’s wife has some privileges. Lev is another character, someone who does the dirty job, but behind the fearful facade there is a very concerned father whose little son is dying of brain tumor and he needs money for a very expensive surgery in USA. There are plenty other characters, but these three somehow stuck till the end.

Marnie Riches gets you into the criminal underworld where you can trust no one. Yesterday’s partners are today’s enemies. She shows the good and the bad side of each one of the characters, because there is always a reason for certain behavior. There isn’t classical plot, so it is quiet different from the other thrillers I’ve read. It took me some time to get into the story, but then I was hooked. I liked the storytelling, the plot and the way the characters evolved.